Surpises
by benjji2795
Summary: Jude throws Connor a surprise party, and along the way, from asking him to help, learns a few more things about Adam Stevens, and finds himself also working to repair his boyfriend's relationship with his dad


"Hello?" Came the gruff voice from the other end of the line.

"Mr. Stevens?"

"This is my number Jude. And please, call me Adam." he replied, chuckling.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Jude said nervously before pausing.

"Is there something I can help you with, Jude?" Adam inquired, still laughing softly. After a minute, Jude regained his composure, continuing.

"So Connor's 16th birthday is coming up and I was thinking I wanted to throw him a surprise party. I wanted to know if you would want to help or if you had something else in mind." he answered, the words coming out in a rush.

"Well I hadn't planned anything yet, so I supposed you're clear to throw him a surprise party. What did you have in mind for me to do?"

"Oh, I uh, hadn't gotten that far yet." Jude said, swearing under his breath. Why was his boyfriend's dad making him so nervous? Adam wasn't the scary, domineering guy he used to be, and yet here he was, stuttering and stumbling over his words. "Wait, Mr. St—I mean Adam, what ideas do you have for like a theme or for stuff to do at the party?"

Adam found it rather amusing how nervous Jude seemed to be. Jude was constantly over at the Stevens' house and Adam had started making a habit of hanging around with Jude's moms quite a bit. He would've thought be now Jude wouldn't be so scared of him, but then again he had done quite a few things to earn Jude's ire and lack of trust in the past, so sadly, he understood. Of course, he was only like this when Connor wasn't around, but Jude never seemed to be scared of anything or nervous when Connor was around, so that made sense to Adam. Not realizing he had gotten lost in his thoughts, Adam was pulled back to reality by Jude's voice crackling through his phone's speaker.

"Adam?"

"Sorry, I was uh, distracted by something for a second. Anyway party ideas, well I do remember him telling me he was thinking about doing paintball." Jude cringed. He and Connor had already talked about that. Jude was still uncomfortable around guns, never truly having gotten over when Connor got shot. Jude was still so scared of how he might have lost Connor that night, a feeling that had only intensified as his feelings for Connor got stronger. By explaining this to Connor (and perhaps throwing in a few tears for dramatic effect; or so Jude told himself, he hadn't intended to actually cry but he got caught up in reliving the emotion of the moment), Connor had almost immediately dropped the idea, deciding that he was not having his 16th birthday party without his boyfriend being there.

"No, he already decided not to do that. We talked about it." Adam frowned. Connor hadn't told him they were dropping that idea. Not that Adam had made any definite plans, but he was still adjusting to Connor telling Jude more than he told him and Jude being Connor's go-to for advice. It was all part of Connor growing up, and Adam couldn't imagine Jude going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, Adam couldn't imagine his own life without Jude, which was funny because 3 years ago he had wanted nothing more for Jude to just disappear from Connor's life. Strange how things work out, he mused.

"Okay then," he said, returning to the conversation with Jude, "what about a video game party? You both really like video games. It would be easy enough to ask some friends for consoles and TV's, or rent them, and then you could set up gaming stations." Jude smiled. Adam's suggestion was spot on. In fact, he was almost mad that he didn't think of it first.

"Do you think you could handle that?" he asked. "The gaming stuff?"

"Sure Jude." Adam said, smiling returning. He was rather pleased that Jude had come to him, asking for his help to set up the party. He wished Jude would feel more comfortable with coming to him more often, considering he was probably going to be Jude's father-in-law someday. Adam mentally slapped himself. That was too far off to be thinking about. It was almost as if his older age was turning him into sappy old soul. Jude and Connor weren't even both 16 yet. Marriage was still far into the future for them. Not that Adam figured that would ever end up with anyone else but each other.

"Okay Connor's here I gotta go. Thanks Adam." Jude replied, hanging up the phone.

 _ ***5 DAYS LATER***_

There was only a day left until the party. Jude had finally received all the RSVP's yesterday, and everything seemed to be in order. Connor appeared to be none the wiser to the party, instead only noticing that Jude was busy all week and he wasn't getting to see him. Jude found that planning this party was much easier than it had been to plan Callie's a few years earlier. Connor didn't live under the same roof as him (although to the rest of the Adams-Foster's it often seemed like it), and he could easily give Connor some excuse as to why he couldn't hang out. Well, not easily, Jude contemplated. He really missed Connor, especially since Connor was the one he went to when he was getting stressed out. And all this planning was _really_ stressing him out. But Connor was coming over today, as Jude had finished up most of what needed to be done early, and he was really looking forward to some quality cuddling time.

"Juuuuuuuuude, I haven't seen you in ages." Connor whined, busting through the front door, walking over to the couch and throwing himself onto Jude. "I missed you." he finished softly.

"You. Are. Very. Needy. Connor." Jude said, peppering Connor with kisses, an obvious smile on his face. But today, Jude frankly was also feeling needy himself, cuddling up into Connor almost as soon as he landed on the couch next to him. He started to feel his stress fade almost immediately, something Connor seemed to sense as well.

"What are we gonna do in a couple of years when we go to college?" Connor asked, thinking about how they obviously both had struggled to survive five days apart.

"Connor, can we not?" Jude mumbled, his voice muffled by the fabric of Connor's t-shirt.

"Sorry."

"So your birthday is tomorrow." Jude commented, trying to seem casual about it.

"Yeah." Connor said softly.

"You're not excited? I mean it's your sweet sixteenth Connor."

"Well Jude, my birthday parties were never really fun as a kid. Dad never let invite anybody I wanted to come, always making me just invite my baseball and soccer teammates who I didn't really like anyway. And he always made the party some sports or other super masculine themed thing. I hated it, so I guess I just don't have a lot of reason to like my birthdays. I was so happy when dad stopped throwing me parties." Connor explained, contempt for his father seeping into his tone.

"Connor, I know your dad made a lot of mistakes back then, but you know how much he's changed. Maybe it's time to let that past go and enjoy your birthday this year." Jude said, stroking Connor's hair and trying to comfort him, starting to feel bad that he hadn't done something grand for either of Connor's first two birthdays when they were together. Connor sighed.

"I know you're right Jude, but it's just so hard. Sometimes it just feels like my dad literally fucked me over my whole childhood because he didn't want me to be a 'sissy' or whatever words he used back then, and I can't help but get upset." he answered, leaning his head into Jude's touch. They were quiet for a while, until the silence was interrupted by Jude's phone ringing. He jumped up, running to his room, correctly assuming that the call was about party business.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jude, it's Adam."

"What's up?"

"Just wanted to know when I was coming by to drop off the gaming stuff?" Jude smacked himself on the forehead. Somehow he'd managed to forget about that central aspect of the party. Adam had to drop the stuff off and now he was spending the whole day with Connor, making such a drop-off difficult.

"Shit." he accidentally muttered out loud. "Ah, sorry Mr—Adam. Connor's supposed to be here the rest of the day. I don't see how there's a good way to do this." Adam laughed.

"That's okay Jude I think I have a plan."

"Oh, and by the way you need to find time to apologize to your son for all the awful parties you threw him as a kid."

"Excuse me?" Adam replied, his tone not accusatory, but surprised.

"Connor just spent five minutes telling me how you never let him invite anyone he wanted or have the kind of party he wanted and now he hates his own birthday." Jude explained, matter-of-factly.

Adam hung his head. In his zeal to turn Connor into his image of the "perfect son" he had screwed up a lot of things during Connor's childhood. In fact, it seemed that almost every day, Jude was telling him about something else he needed to apologize for, something that he had done that he never realized had hurt Connor. He was only now realizing just how much he had tried to control Connor's life, and it hurt, because Adam had become the man he vowed never to be.

"Yeah, I know. I will." Adam said sadly.

"Connor's learning to get over these things and I'm trying to help. He holds onto the past a lot more than I thought he did, and your apologies seem to be going a long way to helping him let go." Jude said, trying to make Adam feel better.

"I know Jude, I just feel so guilty that I screwed up so bad."

"He loves you Adam, and you're both working to make things better; make them right. Don't beat yourself up too much."

"Thanks Jude. Now about the gaming stuff…" Adam said, changing the subject and relaying his drop-off plan to Jude.

"Okay, sounds like a plan Adam. Talk to you later." Jude said, hanging up. He shook his head, a trying to figure out how all of his conversations with Adam seemed to be deep lately.

"Adam? Why were you talking to my dad?" Connor asked suspiciously, causing Jude to jump, surprised by Connor's voice.

"Nothing important, just talking." Jude explained, recovering quickly. Connor looked at him, confused.

"Since when do you just 'talk' to my dad?" he asked. Jude burst out laughing.

"Recently. It's kind of new thing. A little weird to be honest, but your dad isn't that bad of a guy."

"Jude, I don't even 'talk' to my dad."

"Well maybe you should. You know how hard he's trying. Give him a break." Jude implored.

"How many times in my life have I given him a break, only to find out that nothing really changed, Jude?"

"I know Connor, too many. But this time is different because you actually have proof that he's changing. You've seen it. I've seen it. I've started to trust him and I have more reason than most to distrust him, so you should too." Jude argued. Connor exhaled. Once again, Jude was right. He usually was. He walked over to Jude, grabbing him and kissing him.

"I'll try. For you Jude."

The rest of the day passed without incident, Adam dropping off everything without incident (and more importantly, without Connor noticing), and the next morning, Jude was frantically running around the Adams-Foster house, checking to see that all the consoles were set up correctly, or checking to see that they had enough drinks, visibly anxious. As he was running from the living room to the kitchen for seemingly the 1000th time, he ran into Stef who stopped him.

"Jude, love, relax. He's going to love this." Stef said, trying to reassure Jude.

"Mom, it's his 16th birthday party, it has to be perfect." he responded tersely.

"Love," Stef said, placing her hands on Jude's shoulders. "You already put all this together, trying to surprise him with the best birthday party he's ever had. If I read Connor correctly, everything after that is just going to be icing on the cake for him." Jude knew she was right, but still he couldn't seem to relax. It was times like this that he usually called for Connor to come over and calm him down, but considering this was Connor's _surprise_ party, he couldn't exactly do that. Stef, recognizing there's wasn't much more she could do, gave Jude a quick hug before continuing on upstairs to get ready.

All the guests arrived around 11:30, carefully following Jude's instructions to park a block away from the house (of course anyone who didn't was met by Mike, wearing his uniform and managing the best police scowl he could). Jude hurried everyone into the backyard, instructions to hide at 11:55, as Connor was supposed to be arriving around noon. Jude stood on the porch, waiting for Connor, and trying to contain his smile. Connor thought he was coming over for a birthday lunch with the Adams-Fosters, and Jude couldn't wait to see the look on his face when everyone jumped out to surprise him. Adam pulled up, Connor not even waiting for the car to stop before hopping out and running to Jude. Connor was always so excited to see him, much in the same way a dog is always excited to see its owner no matter how much or how little time has passed, and it made Jude's heart skip a beat.

"I missed you." Connor said, as he often did when he was seeing Jude for the first time that particular day, engulfing him in a hug.

"You'd miss me even if I was only gone for five minutes." Jude teased, beaming at Connor. Connor thought about it (no really thought about it; Jude could tell because he had his adorable concentrating face on) before simply agreeing. There was more to this exercise than to just tease Connor though, because Jude needed to distract Connor from the fact that his dad never left. Carefully making sure Connor's eyes were fixed on him (not that he really needed to worry about that; Connor was almost always looking at Jude when he was within his range of vision), Jude began leading him through the house.

"Where is everyone?" Connor asked, confused by how quiet the Adams-Foster house seemed to be.

"Oh, they set up in the backyard. They're already out there waiting." Jude replied, a little louder than normal, making sure to alert the guests that they were coming. They stepped out of the sliding glass door, the backyard seemingly empty, which only confused Connor more. But that only lasted for a fraction of a second, as all the guests jumped out from the hiding places.

"SURPRISE!" they all yelled. Jude watched as a dopey grin began spreading across Connor's face, feeling a similar expression beginning to form on his.

"You did this Jude?" Connor asked, turning to face Jude.

"Well not all of it. I had some help. Mostly from my moms and your dad. Do you like it?" Jude asked shyly.

"Like it? I love it!" Connor exclaimed, grabbing Jude tightly and spinning him around. "I love you! Thank you so much Jude." he said, putting Jude down and giving him a kiss. He then ran over to Stef and Lena, giving them both hugs and thanking them for helping Jude. Turning to his dad, Connor noticed a couple of tears running down his face, and quickly wrapped his arms around him.

"I'm sorry bud. For all the bad birthdays." he whispered, obviously crying.

"It's okay. Thanks for helping Jude, dad." Connor whispered back. "I love you dad."

"I love you too son. Now go, enjoy your 16th birthday with your boyfriend." Adam said, pulling away from Connor, smiling.

"What did you say to my dad?" Connor whispered to Jude when he made it back to where he was standing.

"Nothing that he wasn't already thinking." Jude replied.

"Thanks Jude. I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
